Week 41: Ciudad Real, La Mancha District
7:33 AM
Lots of rice with a South American companion
He was a little tired...
The hermanas from my Cadiz district
Hermana (Emily) Taggart. CWood represent!
Monday- well, we ate breakfast with Jenny and Valentine so they could say goodbye to elder Llavina, then we got elder Llavina's bags and went to the train station and I left at 1:00 p.m. to go to my training. I arrived and we had lots and lots of meetings in the mission home in Fuengirola, (which I had never been in before) and then me and the other elder trainer went to the couple missionaries' home to sleep.
Wednesday- we woke up early so elder Esparza could do his residency at the government building. Then we went to the office so I could help all the new native missionaries configure their iPads (because the instructions were in English). Then we went and traveled to Malaga and stayed there a long time. Then we caught the train for ciudad real at 2:00 p.m. Lots and lots of travel! We arrived and went back so he could start unpacking. After unpacking, we went to teach English classes and that went well. Then we went and visited president Carlos so elder Esparza could meet him.
Thursday- we woke up and did weekly planning. Then we left that evening and stopped by the investigator we taught a while back Ivan but he said to come back later. We spent a lot of time walking and talking and we contacted this lady from Panama and she said her cousin is a Mormon and we got her talking and she said she'd like to meet in our church some time to talk so that's awesome. Later a bird flew by and left I big nasty present right on my white shirt so that was lame. Then we went to Jenny, Yeranni, and Valentin and we taught a lesson about forgiveness and They all really liked the lesson.
Friday- We had our district meeting and it went well. Then that evening, we tried stopping by a ton of people but no one was home, although we met this awesome Dominican lady trying to find an old investigator so that's cool. She sad we could come back another time because she was a busy. Also, We called the person from Panama we had met the day before and she said she'd love to meet with us tomorrow on Saturday. Then we taught Toni, and he still hasn't read but he has been praying. We had a lesson planned, but we kind of just had to try and help him understand the importance of reading and all the stuff we ask him to do and he just doesn't seem to be getting it, so we'll see how it continues.
Saturday- in the morning we taught the lady from Panama named Flor. She is an absolute miracle, she arrived running to the lesson which she wanted to be in our church, and some of the first things she said where how she wanted to know more about the book or Mormon and Joseph smith. We had a great lesson and answered a lot of her questions, and she said she'll read the Book of Mormon, pray, and come to church the next morning. We also invited her to be baptized And she agreed to do it if she feels these things are true so we set a baptismal date for 2 July. So that's awesome! That evening we went and visited Nieves and the craziest thing happened that's never happened while I've been here. Nieves actually agreed to say the prayer in the lesson! She also said she's been praying and reading and she's felt a lot better in her life. We had a good lesson about what faith is. Then that evening we played football with our Bolivian investigator and his friends.
Sunday- awesome miracles at church today. First, it started at 10:00 because we had a Western Europe conference (like general conference but just for Western Europe) broadcast from Salt Lake. It was really awesome, it was a lot about just simplifying the gospel and the importance of setting simple goals in our life in reference to living the commandments and strengthening our faith. But the best part, Nancy and Daniel came and Flor came (kind of a random first church experience, it was difficult to explain what it was to her). I honestly was just flipping out with joy, first to see Daniel and Nancy, then to see flor. We talked for a long time, and she's agreed to make some Panamanian food for us which is sweet, but the only bad part is she said Panamanian food has lots of cilantro so... I hate cilantro. But that's alright! I was so happy. Then we ate at Ana's house and she unfortunately got a little offended because my new companion definitely is a pickier eater and just not used to the food here, so he didn't eat anything. That night he was feeling incredibly sick though, and I've kind of been working him to death, so I decided We should slow things down and just let him rest, because I could tell he was not doing well...
Finally, at the end of Sunday when I was just feeling discouraged and down about my impatience and insensitivity. I will admit, Ive been a little impatient but I've just tried to always make sure at least how he's doing and if there's anything I can do to help him, and try and make him laugh and even though it's always the same answer "I'm fine" or "no" I realized that it probably helps him feel better ( I think). But To hear that made me happy. So I'd say the key to any relation with anyone is communication. Me and elder Esparza are different people for sure, but we're definitely gaining trust and even becoming better friends. I go back to some of the best advice I heard about a mission "it's impossible to hate someone who serves you so much" so those are my two bullet points with learning to love someone:
* Communicate
* Serve
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